Trucker convoy - ‘Freedom’ protest threatens to snarl traffic as it laps DC for second day
The convoy organiser said he wants to keep the convoy out of Washington DC to avoid arrest
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Your support makes all the difference.The “People’s Convoy,” a US imitation of the Canadian “Freedom Convoy” that disrupted Ottawa and several border crossings last month, has entered its second day of protest in the Washington DC area. On Sunday, the convoy drove a lap on I-495 - commonly called the Beltway - which encircles Washington DC, though some ended up lost amid the highway’s substantial traffic. Organiser Brian Brase told his followers that every day their demands are not heard, they will circle the 64-mile Beltway an additional time.
The convoy left Adelanto, California, late last month, and picked up participants along the way before reaching its current staging area in Hagerstown, Maryland.
The group’s goals are nebulous. Organisers have said they want an end to the national emergency enacted shortly after the coronavirus hit the US, as well as the lifting of mask and vaccine mandates. However, as almost every state has rolled back or plans to lift their masking requirements and the federal government has lifted its own, the group’s aims appear to have shifted to a general protest of the Joe Biden administration.
In addition to general right-wing protesters, it has been confirmed that at least some QAnon influencers have joined in on the convoy as well.
‘We will hold the line! YOU WORK FOR US!'
When posting the route for today’s convoy protest on Facebook, organiser Kris Young also wrote: “Hey DC, if you weren’t sure from yesterday just how BIG we are, here’s your chance to get a second look! Oh and PS, we are growing by the minute!! Not all trucks were sent out this morning. Stay tuned… We will hold the line! YOU WORK FOR US!”
The group intends to travel across two lanes one time around the beltway before returning to their base at Hagerstown Speedway for the night.
Departure: From the Hagerstown Speedway, turn left onto Rt 40 to I-81s to I-70e to I-270s to I-495s.
Return: I-495 to I-270n to I-70w to I-81n to (exit 5b) to the AC&T truck stop to refuel. From there, we will drive I-81n one exit to Rt 40 (exit 6b) to the Hagerstown Speedway.
Is the latest trucker convoy really a failure?
The “People’s Convoy” plan to immobilise Washington, DC with a right-wing truckers’ protest may not have come to anything, but historian Terry Bouton has shared a lengthy dispatch from the convoy’s encampment in Maryland – and gives an image of something quite separate from the DC event that can’t be written off as just an embarrassment.
It’s worth clicking through to read the whole thread.
Convoy failing to occupy two lanes of Beltway
Zachary Petrizzo of The Daily Beast reports that the convoy is struggling to occupy one lane of traffic let alone two.
Many of the vehicles have become separated from each other and one may have broken down.
‘Passionate faction’ of convoy wants to head into city from Beltway
The Washington Post reports:
Organizer Brian Brase said the group, which began its protest Sunday with two loops around the Beltway, said it has no plans to take the protest beyond the highway but acknowledged there’s a passionate faction of the convoy that wants to head into the nation’s capital. Authorities said there were no reports of convoy-related incidents Monday during the group’s single loop of the 64-mile Beltway.
“A lot of people want me to say certain things and put this convoy into a certain direction,” Brase said. “I’m not going to listen to all of them. I’m going to listen to the people.”
Little impact on traffic flow
The convoy of 130 large trucks plus hundreds of smaller vehicles has not had much impact on the flow of traffic around the nation’s capital, according to authorities.
Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corrine Geller told The Washington Post that the agency will continue to follow the plan it had in place over the weekend. She said there were no major problems reported Monday.
“They’re moving,” she said, adding that the convoy didn’t result in major traffic issues. “It’s Northern Virginia, so it’s bad on a good day, but we’ve had no complaints” from other motorists.
Convoy protest taking place as gas prices spike
The convoy protest is taking place at a time of record gas prices. At today’s White House briefing, Press Secretary Jen Psaki used a contentious question-and-answer session with a Fox News correspondent to refute a string of right-wing media tropes Republicans have used to blame President Joe Biden’s energy policies for recent high gas prices.
Andrew Feinberg reports.
Psaki pushes back on Fox News reporter’s questions about rising gas prices
‘Let me give you the facts here — I know that can be inconvenient, but I think they're important in this moment’
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